2023-08-04 22:00:51
The Chinese online network TikTok will in future allow users in the EU to choose whether they want to see personalized recommendations or not. This is happening “as part of our efforts to meet DSA requirements,” TikTok said on Friday. The EU’s new Digital Services Act (DSA), which comes into force on August 25, will impose stricter rules on online services, sales platforms and search engines.
The personalized recommendations offered by TikTok are based on user data and display posts that correspond to users’ presumed interests. Critics see this as data theft and denounce the individually tailored recommendations as addictive. Anyone who switches off the function should in future receive suggestions from their region or internationally popular videos.
TikTok also wants to make it easier to report suspected illegal content. Users can choose how they assess certain posts, for example as “hate speech, harassment or white-collar crime”. If a contribution is withdrawn, TikTok wants to disclose the reasons for this in the future. Young people between the ages of 13 and 16 should no longer see personalized advertising.
In mid-July, EU Industry Commissioner Thierry Breton warned TikTok to speed up its adaptation to the new rules.
Roland Lindner, New York Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 11 Franziska Proell Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 9 Benjamin Fischer Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 5
According to its own statements, the TikTok app is the leading platform for mobile short videos. It is used by more than a billion people worldwide and around 125 million users in the EU. It was started by the Chinese company ByteDance.
Critics accuse the company of spying on and locating journalists, transferring user data to China and taking censorship measures in favor of Russia during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The company denies this.
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